SMALLSAILE-C-10DEC02-SP-KR
Gale Yando sailing his small boat near the Pt richmond Yachet harbor .
Small boat sailing on SF Bay is experiencing a renaissance, as hot new (cheap and portable) models of sailboats and sail dinghies are showing up from makers around the world.Some are used for youth programs; many are seized upon by adults looking for the affordable independence and sensual adventure of taking a tiny craft onto the bay.Photo By Kurt Rogers less

SMALLSAILE-C-10DEC02-SP-KR
Gale Yando sailing his small boat near the Pt richmond Yachet harbor .
Small boat sailing on SF Bay is experiencing a renaissance, as hot new (cheap and portable) models of ... more

Photo: Kurt Rogers

Image 2 of 3

SMALLSAILC-C-10DEC02-SP-KR
Gale Yando sailing his small boat near the Pt richmond Yachet harbor .
Small boat sailing on SF Bay is experiencing a renaissance, as hot new (cheap and portable) models of sailboats and sail dinghies are showing up from makers around the world.Some are used for youth programs; many are seized upon by adults looking for the affordable independence and sensual adventure of taking a tiny craft onto the bay.Photo By Kurt Rogers less

SMALLSAILC-C-10DEC02-SP-KR
Gale Yando sailing his small boat near the Pt richmond Yachet harbor .
Small boat sailing on SF Bay is experiencing a renaissance, as hot new (cheap and portable) models of ... more

Photo: Kurt Rogers

Image 3 of 3

Small sailboats making it big

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Some speedy hot rods in the Bay Area emit nary a puff of pollution. That's because they're completely powered by fresh, salt-fragrant breezes.

Next time you see sails crowd the bay, scan for the bright, darting triangles of the tiny ones. Big yachts may offer glamour, but small-boat sailors claim they have the most fun.

"When the Aussie 18s were here for a regatta last September, I watched them literally explode out of the water," said Ward Latimer, who directs an aquatics program at Lake Merced for San Francisco State. "They'd turn a corner,

pull the string (releasing the balloon spinnaker sail) and leap right off the bay. Only a couple of inches of centerboard were left in the water."

These boats, 18 feet long, weighing only 350 pounds, with a hard-working crew of three, can hit speeds up to 30 mph. They are also infamous as one of the world's hardest boats to sail.

However, the bay's fleet of small boats includes user-friendly El Toro dinghies, kid-pleasing Optimist prams and nimble Bytes for smaller adults. A proliferation of models to suit an array of uses is gradually transforming the marine scene.

"We now see as many adults as kids get into dinghy racing," Latimer said. "Some of it is economics. For about $1,000, you can find a used skiff, put on a life jacket and go play. You'll learn a great deal more about sailing in a small boat than you ever can in a large one. To succeed, you've got to understand nuances of things like sail trim and weight distribution.

"Seeing the dinghy market roar to life here is great. I'm a small-boat sailor, and I just love it to pieces."

On Saturday, Richmond Yacht Club held one of its pair of annual "Sail-a- small-boat Days." Although waters off Point Richmond were becalmed, excitement still reigned on the docks.

Claire Dolan, a San Francisco graphics designer, eagerly conversed with racer Jannelle Kubinec about the Byte.

"I grew up sailing dinghies. But now, I've crewed on big boats a lot of years. I'm tired of the hassles," Dolan said. "I want to drive my own. I'm looking to buy a Byte."

Said Kubinec, who bought a Byte three years ago and sails it weekly while training: "It's a great boat for women to control. It's my water-Porsche. My favorite toy."

Canadian boat-builder Ian Bruce, who first produced the fabled Laser three decades ago, designed the Byte as a high-performance single-hander for sailors weighing 90-150 pounds -- making it ideal for women.

Dolan jumped on one for a test drive. Despite a faint breeze, the nimble, needle-shaped Byte glided relatively swiftly from the dock.

Another female sailor returned complaining of the Byte's tight quarters, and her need to kneel to trim the 12-foot hull in light conditions. But Dolan returned to rave.

"I'm addicted!" she said. Dolan promptly chartered a Byte to use in a race the following day.

Bytes have been around for eight years, Yando said. Richmond Yacht Club members boast a fleet of 25. A dozen or so show up for each race.

"A percentage of our members love small, single-hand boats," Yando said. "They're after the speed and the independence. It's easy-breezy. When you're done, you just hose it off and put it away."

Of dozens of yacht clubs in the Bay Area, three are reputed as major centers for small-boat sailing: Richmond, San Francisco Yacht Club in Tiburon and Encinal Yacht Club in Alameda. All three enjoy protected waters nearby. That means sailors can be selective about how much they take on brisk challenges of the open bay.

One Richmond claim-to-fame is that it's birth place of the El Toro. In 1940,

Bud Coxhead and Bill Warner modified a skiff design from Rudder Magazine to create a yacht tender that could double as a pram for club youth. Cheap, boxy, durable Toros -- not quite eight feet long at waterline -- have since proliferated by the thousands around the globe. The designers named it to honor the "bull" slung around as they dreamed it up. However, since their artistic ability was scant, the symbol they drew for its sails was a simple shovel.

In the small-boat realm, any shape 60 years old is fair game for redesign. At the demo day, Richmond artist Jim DeWitt presented his DeWitt Dinghy. It's sized like a Toro, but made of tough, rotomolded plastic. It boasts a carbon- fiber mast with full-length, cambered battens shaping a sail 47 percent larger.

A better planing bottom accentuates speed, and a suction-bailer subtracts one obnoxious task.

"You can sail this in winds up to 20 knots. But you better be good," Dewitt said. "Kids can start on it, then grow into it. Or adults can race it in very competitive events for next to nothing. It's like a Volkswagen, the people's boat."

Yando says small-boat sailing leagues were extremely popular on the bay 30 years ago. The advent of windsurfing siphoned away many of those pursuing small-craft excitement. But as windsurf boards have become smaller, less stable, more demanding and more expensive, small boats are reclaiming some allure. Modern builders present a huge range of options.

Occupying the upper end of the performance spectrum, besides Aussie 18s, are International Canoes (with a sliding, crescent-shaped beam athwart the hull, so sailors can hike out and keep the boat in trim) and International 14s (dart-shaped speedsters whose sailors hang on a trapeze tied to the mast to achieve trim).

These boats are far more high-strung and temperamental than a pram or dinghy. Nothing matches their sizzle over the seas -- or the swift punishment they mete out for errors.

"About the worst thing that happens is, you get wet," Canoe sailor Del Olsen said. "You fall down, get back up. I can count on fingers of one hand the number of times I went out in the last 20 years without a wetsuit. I always come back with a profound respect for Mother Nature and her power."

San Francisco Bay is home to top world competitors in both the latter classes. Kurt Twardowski, a Mountain View electrical engineer, says part of the draw is training here, then taking his I-14 to regattas around the globe. He's been to Australia, Hawaii, Bermuda and England. This week, he's off to Japan. In 2005, Twardowski plans to head for the world championships in New Zealand.

The number of options means anyone can define and select their desired level of challenge. Bill Gage, race council chair for the San Francisco Yacht Club, has decades of bay sailing under his belt. He has just left larger designs behind, migrating to a new model of an older design: a single-hand Laser, just under 14 feet long.

"My orientation is to race. That adds an element of purpose to my sailing," Gage said. "Lasers are cheap and easy to deal with. My boat is one of about 170,000 around the world. It's an Olympic-class vessel, so there's support all over the place.

"The safe upper limit for Lasers is probably sailing it in 25-30 knots (of wind). But for me, 15-18 knots is plenty. It's hard to go downwind. I'm still learning to keep it under me."

SMALL SAILBOAT INFO

-- General -- The best way to start small boat sailing is through a commercial or cooperative program. Three options: the Treasure Island Sailing Center, (415) 421-2225, or
www.tisailing.org
; UC Berkeley's CAL Adventures program (sail classes begin again in March), (510) 642-4000 or
www.oski.org
; San Francisco State's Aquatics Program on Lake Merced, (415) 405-0703 or (415) 385- 6383.

-- Small boats -- A list of links to sites with information on many small craft in use on the bay (including Bytes, DeWitt Dinghies, I-14s, etc.) can be found at www.sbra.org. Click on " Small Boat Fleets." But do it soon. Site is scheduled to shut down Dec. 31.

-- Demo Day -- The next Richmond Yacht Club "Sail-a-small-boat day" will be on March 1 from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. (510) 232-6310, or www.richmondyc.org.